OpenCart vs Saleor
| Feature | OpenCart | Saleor |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Web & CMS | Web & CMS |
| Sub-category | E-Commerce | E-Commerce |
| Maturity | mature | stable |
| Complexity | beginner | intermediate |
| Performance tier | medium | medium |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| License type | copyleft | permissive |
| Pricing | fully free | fully free |
| GitHub stars | 7.0K | 21.0K |
| Contributors | 0 | 0 |
| Commit frequency | weekly | weekly |
| Plugin ecosystem | none | none |
| Docs quality | good | good |
| Backing org | OpenCart | Saleor Commerce |
| Funding model | community | vc_backed |
| Min RAM | 256 MB | 1 GB |
| Min CPU cores | 1 | 1 |
| Scaling pattern | single_node | single_node |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| K8s native | No | No |
| Offline capable | No | No |
| Vendor lock-in | none | none |
| Languages | PHP | Python, TypeScript |
| API type | REST | REST |
| Protocols | HTTP | HTTP |
| Deployment | docker | docker |
| SDK languages | — | — |
| Team size fit | solo, small | small, medium |
| First release | 2020 | 2020 |
| Latest version | — | — |
When to use OpenCart
- ✓ Small business online store
- ✓ Multi-store retail management
- ✓ Simple e-commerce with extensions
When to use Saleor
- ✓ Headless e-commerce with custom frontend
- ✓ Multi-warehouse order fulfillment
- ✓ B2B commerce with custom pricing
OpenCart anti-patterns
- ✕ Code quality concerns
- ✕ Security updates can lag
- ✕ Less modern than headless options
- ✕ Extension quality varies
Saleor anti-patterns
- ✕ GraphQL-only — no REST API
- ✕ Smaller ecosystem than Shopify/WooCommerce
- ✕ Self-hosting requires DevOps expertise